What do you make of two strips of relatively fresh sidewalk, finished in the past year or so and marked by signs planted dead center in the path that read: "No Pedestrians or Bicycles"?

Lafayette resident Jack Bessler rides his bike out and back along South River Road nearly every day and has puzzled over that question for a while now. Each way on South River Road's bike path, he passes the signs, which bookend about a tenth-mile of sidewalks on either side of South River Road, just northeast of U.S. 231.

The signs are located near Bowen Laboratory on South River Road.(Photo: Thomas Maxfield/Journal & Courier)

Was it some sort of outdated warning for a staging area for Indiana Department of Transportation equipment, never plucked after crews finished the U.S. 231 bypass last summer? Did Purdue University's Bowen Laboratory pose some sort of large-scale civil engineering testing danger to pedestrians along its front lawn? Is it, as poet Shel Silverstein pondered, where the sidewalk ends?

Or are they just the dumbest signs in Greater Lafayette?

"That is all the sign says," Bessler said. "Thought someone would explain the oddity."

Here's the best anyone can figure.

The sidewalks were installed as INDOT reconfigured the intersection of South River Road and U.S. 231. But as the project ended, someone concluded that it wouldn't be good for the sidewalk to end with no outlet. So six-foot sections of the sidewalk were cut out in four spots and signposts were driven into the dirt.

"There are no sidewalks at the new intersection of South River Road and U.S. 231/52," said Debbie Calder, an INDOT spokeswoman. "INDOT decided to leave the sidewalk in place and sign it this way, due to the fact that we think it may be used in the future."

Her advice: West Lafayette controls South River Road now that the state route follows the new bypass. Check with the city or Purdue University about future connections.

Dave Buck, West Lafayette city engineer, could only shake his head.

He said local planners chirped back and forth with INDOT about finding ways to connect sidewalks and trails tied to the South River Road and U.S. 231 bypass, instead of having those start and stop abruptly. He pointed to the bicycle and walking trails built along U.S. 231. Those trails, tree-lined and beautiful as they are, stop at odd spots, including just south of State Street and again short of Sagamore Parkway.

"If you build half of it," Buck said, "people are still going to show up, get to the end and get stranded and wonder what's up. There really should be ways to bring all of those together. … We talked to INDOT about it. But it didn't happen, I guess."

How about long stretches of sidewalk with signs on either end, warning people to stay off?

"I don't know what to say," Buck said.

The verdict? Those actually are more than just the dumbest signs in Greater Lafayette.